VOTE for Reproductive Freedom, 2024 billboard, Phlladelphia, Lena Wolff & Hope Meng
VOTE for the Freedom to Read, 2024, offset poster, Lena Wolff & Hppe Meng
Project History
Berkeley Stands United Against Hate, offset posters, 2017
Art for Democracy began with a poster reading, Berkeley Stand United Against Hate, made in collaboration with Lexi Visco (of Companion Platform) that has been printed over 400,000 times for 10 Bay Area cities since their initial release in 2017. The project since evolved into a widespread public art campaign largely focused on promoting voter engagement for reasons related to the critical issues of our day — for reproductive freedom, gun control, LGBTQ rights, racial justice, the freedom to read, and the health of the planet at large.. Through this approach, rather than advocating for a single party or candidate, the initiative adds to existing community-led voter engagement efforts and is welcomed in public spaces like restaurants, libraries, bookstores, and cafes.
In 2022 and 2024, images from the VOTE campaign made in collaboration with Hope Meng spread across the country in the form of free posters, billboards, downloadable files, and digital images that were shared publicly in storefront windows and on social media. To date over 90,000 posters from the VOTE series have been distributed for free in over 100 cities in 28 states, with a strategic emphasis in swing states. In 2024, 23 billboards with the VOTE for Reproductive Freedom message were installed in 8 states ahead of the general election in November, thanks to the generous sponsorship of several individual donors, including US poet laureate, Amanda Gorman.
Since their release, the United Against Hate posters and VOTE posters have been collected by SFMOMA, the Oakland Museum of California and the San Francisco History Collection of the SF Public Library. On November 12th, 2019, Mayor Jesse Arreguin named “Lena Wolff and Miriam Klein Stahl Day” in the city of Berkeley, in part for this project that uses art to promote civic engagement. The city of Berkeley also launched an annually celebrated “United Against Hate Week” based on the phrase of the initial poster made in 2017.
Find out more about the project on the Art for Democracy website.
